


Odd moments

by Ellana17



Series: The Kids are Alright [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e14 Love in the Time of Hydra, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 22:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7775935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellana17/pseuds/Ellana17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After their rough encounter with Cal, Skye and Coulson have a conversation about what makes a father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Odd moments

**Author's Note:**

> I’m still clearly not over that scene in episode 2x10 (you know which one). The title is taken from a quote by Umberto Eco: “I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” 
> 
> The story is set during episode 14 but refers to what has happened since episode 10.

The casts were unbearable. Skye would have laughed at the situation – after all she had been through, she was going crazy over a banal itch she could not scratch because her arm was in a cast – if she had not been too busy crying quietly. Her shoulders were shaking as she sobbed but at least nothing else was shaking around her. When Coulson found her crying alone on her bed in the cage a few minutes later, she did not resist as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen,” Skye said quietly into Coulson’s shoulder. “You told me not to go down there and I didn’t listen. It’s my fault. I was so focused on trying to stop Cal that I did exactly what he wanted me to do.”

“You’re not to blame, Skye. He played all of us,” Coulson replied.

“I should have been more careful with him,” Skye resumed, ignoring Coulson’s remark. “But I wanted to believe that he wasn’t so bad. I wanted to believe he loved me, I guess,” she mumbled. “Parents are supposed to love their children, right? But I wasn’t good enough.”

“What do you mean?” Coulson asked as he rubbed her arm soothingly.

“He wanted me to change,” she explained. “He spent years looking for me. He spent years looking for me and even finding me wasn’t good enough. _I_ wasn’t good enough,” she said bitterly.

“Skye, you are the most amazing young woman I have ever met,” Coulson declared firmly. “If Cal can’t see it then he doesn’t deserve you. I’m sorry, though,” he added. “You deserve a father and I’m sorry Cal can’t be that to you.”

Skye shrugged, drying her wet cheeks. “He’s not my father,” she noted. “Not really anyway. He didn’t drive me to school, he didn’t ground me or played board games or taught me to drive. He wasn’t there when my world kept falling apart over and over again, or when I broke my arm,” she stated.

Coulson nodded along.

“I guess we were both pretty disappointed,” she mused. “All those years he was looking for the little girl he had lost while I was looking for the father I never had and when we finally found each other…” she trailed off. “Let’s just say we both had too high expectations.”

“He wasn’t exactly as you had imagined but-” Coulson tried.

“He’s a murdered!” Skye exclaimed. “He tried to kill you!”

Skye shuddered at the memory. She had been so scared in that moment that even May’s training had not been enough for her to control her emotions. She had burst into tears at seeing Coulson on the ground. In that moment she had realized that she had been so focused on trying to get back the family she never actually had that she failed to protect the one she already had.

Cal had stopped at hearing her calling him, but she had realized the moment the word had left her mouth that she had not been calling Cal after all, but rather Coulson.

Skye never had a family before, that was probably why it had taken her so long to identify what she was feeling.

“You saved me, Skye,” Coulson told her. “You handled a dangerous situation and kept your calm just like May taught you,” he added as Skye shook her head remorsefully. “You’ll be back in the field in no time, you simply need to learn how to control your new abilities just like you learned how to throw a punch or fire a gun. You know, you could even become an Avenger one day,” he added with a smile.

“Simmons said I was like the Hulk,” Skye told him. “She didn’t mean it as a compliment, though.”

“The Hulk is pretty awesome,” Coulson countered. “I’ve met him, you know,” he reminded her.

Skye rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know,” she said with a small smile.

Coulson’s embrace tightened. “You’ll be alright Skye, we’ll help you through this.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she said in a whisper. It took her a second to realize what she had just said. She turned wide eyes to Coulson who, for once, seemed at a loss for words.

“Feels weird to say, right?” he noted. “It was good thinking,” he added after a bit. “Trying to distract Cal like that.”

Skye shook her head. “That’s the thing, I wasn’t,” she told him. “I wasn’t really thinking straight, I- I was trying to tell you to hold on.”

“I hadn’t realized,” Coulson said quietly.

“Me neither,” she told him.

Coulson could practically feel her closing up again, hiding behind those walls she had built over the years. “I’m not going anywhere, you know that, right?” he told her firmly. “You’re safe here, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised.

Skye only nodded, not really trusting her voice at the moment. She was not sure she could have found the words to tell him how grateful she was for having him as a father anyway.

THE END


End file.
